A newly-formed consumer group called Samahan Laban sa Monopolyo (SLaM) urged the Senate investigating the reported merger of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company and Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc. (Sun Cellular) to look deeper into the creeping monopoly in the telecommunication industry and possible NTC approval of larger franchise of telecommunication airwaves to a single company despite growing opposition to it.
“We appeal to our good Senators to investigate the recent trend of increasing control of telecommunication franchise by PLDT/Smart that will eventually hamper competition and bring us back to the monopoly regime that made us consumers at the mercy of a single telephone company giant,” said Jess Sandow, Convenor of SLaM.
About 100 members of SLaM trooped to the Senate grounds to convince the members of the Committee on Public Services to uphold public interest and stall the potential harm to consumers of this merger of a very critical public good, such as telecommunication.
Sandow said only an honest-to-goodness legislation against monopoly will guard our economy against the onslaught of monopolistic greed among our businessmen and help establish a springboard for strategic investments and employment opportunities for the people.
“Starting off with this shameless control of the telecommunication industry, SLaM intends to address the apparent disregard of the Constitutional provision to prohibit and regulate monopolies in strategic industries that are of public interest. We have to alert the people and move them into action if the government is failing to implement their part,” explained Sandow.
Based on the data gathered by SLaM, the merger of PLDT/Smart/Sun let them corner 70% of the frequency leaving the other telecommunication companies scavenging for the remaining 30% of the airwaves.
“If the other companies fail to survive this unequal competition, we, as consumers will be left with no other choice but to make do with the remaining giant. They can dictate the price for the delivery of their service which is basically derived from a public domain such as airwaves or frequency. We have to continue to stand our guard especially if the government chose to miss this very important juncture in the country,” added Sandow.
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